Zee Studios and Mayasabha Karamanuk Mandali LLP’s Vaalvi (Marathi; UA) is the story of a childless couple.
Aniket (Swapnil Joshi) and Avani (Anita Date) have been married for 13 years but don’t have a child. Avani is, therefore, depressed. She is under psychiatrist Anshuman’s (Subodh Bhave) treatment. Avani loves white ants and keeps them as pets.
Aniket has an extra-marital affair with Devika (Shivani Surve). In fact, the two of them are keen to get married but this is not possible till Avani divorces Aniket. So, Aniket and Devika hatch a plan to get rid of Avani by making her kill herself. Here, Anshuman and Avani have physical relations with one another.
On the day Avani is supposed to kill herself, Aniket finds her lying unconscious on the floor. He shoots her dead and places the pistol in her hand to make it look like a case of suicide. However, the body goes missing.
What is the truth? Is Avani dead or alive? If she is alive, where has she disappeared? If she is dead, who killed her? And where is her body? What finally happens to Aniket and Devika? Do they get married? Does Aniket get to know of his wife’s sexual encounter with Anshuman? What happens to Anshuman?
Madhugandha Kulkarni and Paresh Mokashi have written an intriguing but somewhat contrived story which keeps the audience engrossed at places. The duo’s screenplay is not very interesting. Also, there are a couple of points which aren’t too convincing. For instance, why does Anshuman confide in Aniket about Avani’s pregnancy and other related matters when he could’ve remained silent to advantage. Such weak links come in the way of the complete enjoyment of the drama. The comedy after interval is fairly entertaining. The duo’s dialogues are impactful.
Swapnil Joshi acts very ably in the role of Aniket. Subodh Bhave is also lovely as psychiatrist Anshuman. Anita Date does well as Avani. Shivani Surve is pretty effective in the role of Devika. Namrata Sambherao and the others are adequate.
Paresh Mokashi’s direction is quite good but he has not been able to camouflage the weak links in the script. Mangesh Dhakde’s background music is pretty effective. Satyajeet Shobha Shriram’s camerawork is okay. Nilesh Eknath Wagh’s art direction is appealing. Editing (Abhijeet Deshpande and Saurabh Prabhudesai) is quite sharp.
On the whole, Vaalvi is an ordinary fare which will struggle at the box-office.
Released on 13-1-’23 at Plaza (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: quite nice. Opening: dull.